Friday, 5 November 2010

MAGIC NUMBER 2

Sometimes the mainstream media is so glaring in its hypocrisy it’s hard not to laugh, or feel outrageously depressed that this is what our media has become. In this case, tabloid journalism once again rears its ugly head, and reminds us that it happily qualifies itself as mainstream ‘news.’

One of the stalwarts of the tabloid world is People Magazine. They of course do not call themselves a tabloid, and put themselves many rungs above the National Enquirers of the world; but let’s be frank, if you have celebs on the cover and celebs on the inside, you’re wading in the same pool as far as I’m concerned.

So on their website, one of their lead stories is about how Kelly Osborne – of the Ozzy Osborne family fame – is now a size 2 thanks to ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ A reality show that makes me want to poke my eyes out. She exclaims that the show changed her life, and subsequently her weight, and now she’s happier than she’s ever been as a size two. In fact, since she’s been on this show that’s about all I’ve ever seen or heard from her – her diet details, her tips to have a size 2 body (she eats a lot of carrots apparently), what it feels like to wear size 2 clothes, how a size 2 is just the best number ever, blab la bla bla. I don’t know about you, but she’s giving me a size 12 headache.

I can’t bear it when people waffle on and on about their newfound weight loss and the media laps it up like a golden retriever. In fact, the media goes as far as to reward these individuals as if they’d scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro or found the cure for some rare disease. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very into health, and I commend anyone that loses weight when and if they need to. But in our culture when a public figure loses weight, it becomes a national story, followed by the predictable bikini spread, product endorsement, red carpet parade in various band-aid dresses, and of course a reality show showing how this person lost the weight. SNORE.

Sorry, I’m digressing…can you sense my disturbance? So, back to the hypocrisy. On the very same page of People magazine’s website, two stories up from Kelly’s proclamation that being a size 2 is the bees knees, is Portia de Rossi (of Ally McBeal fame) touting her autobiography. In her book she divulges that she was so ravaged by anorexia that she plummeted down to 82 pounds. She was utterly obsessed with having the perfect body and blames part of this on being in the spotlight.

Yup, cozy neighboring headlines in the bizarre world in which we live. So not only are they commending Kelly for being such a strong little dieter – and gosh, doesn’t she look so much better now in those band aid dresses? – but they’re also commending Portia for her recovery and not putting emphasis on her body anymore. As you can see, according to People Magazine, it’s important to love who you are…especially if you’re a size 2.